From the thread on tapering:
For the last few weeks, I experiment with a meet warm-up.
I've never raced that much, and haven't been to a meet in a couple years except to watch, however, the thing that always bothered me most about meets was actually trying to warm up. I found it virtually impossible to do anything useful in a lane with 13 people, five of whom are chatting at the walls, and the other seven of whom were (trying to) do something much different than I was or doing it at a much different pace. I frequently would give up after a few minutes and just get out.
Skip
Be ready to get in right when the pool opens for warmups. Usually you can get in a few hundred before it gets really crowded.
I did win the coveted "first one in award" at the PNA Champs this year. Too bad That Guy wasn't there to duel me for it. :(
From the thread on tapering:
I've never raced that much, and haven't been to a meet in a couple years except to watch, however, the thing that always bothered me most about meets was actually trying to warm up. I found it virtually impossible to do anything useful in a lane with 13 people, five of whom are chatting at the walls, and the other seven of whom were (trying to) do something much different than I was or doing it at a much different pace. I frequently would give up after a few minutes and just get out.
Skip
Definitely aggravating. Sometimes you can't do anything about it.
1. The pool is usually less crowded very early or very late.
2. If they have pace lanes (not sure how common this is at USMS meets), just do your warmup entirely in groups of 50's.
3. If in the normal lanes, I might go extra slow at times to try and create an open pocket in front of me where I can then build/sprint if only for a short distance.
I did win the coveted "first one in award" at the PNA Champs this year. Too bad That Guy wasn't there to duel me for it. :(
I was first in on the second day of the meet :agree:
Be 65+ and you get your own lane:)
Some times you just need to get used to others around you not doing what you are doing. Yes in early will give you more room.
For big meets meets that I have tapered for, I will sometimes research other nearby pools and use them for my main warmup and warmdown, and just do a little pre-event warmup at the main pool. This works especially well at a big multi-day meet like nationals, where the importance of swimming in the competition pool to notice markings and such is less after the first day, and where the time-line often means that a later warmup will work better for those not swimming the first event. You can often find pools with lapswim hours where you get your own lane within 10-20 minutes of the competition site. It's worth investigating, although not something I would go to the trouble of doing for smaller in-season competitions.
For me, considering the amount of importance I place on warming-up, I have made it a priority since the fall of last year to always, always be the first one to show up to the pool for a meet and the first one to hop in the pool when the official announces that it's open. This always lets me get in at least several hundred yards/meters before my lane gets crowded. Usually by that time, I'm almost ready or am ready to start doing fast 50s or 25s. That makes it easier because you can use the time you're on the wall waiting for a good "window" to start your fast lap(s) as the rest between, you know?
Don't go into the warm-up pool with a preconceived idea of what your warm-up should be. Hold your ground when you need to, and be sensitive to those slower and faster than you are. Sometimes, as an older, slower swimmer, my warm-up consists of a long series of 25's. Not ideal, but it works for me.
No one swimmer's warm-up is more important than anothers's. If everyone remembered that, no one would be intimidated, bruised, or battered in the warm-up pool.
